No sooner had Israeli tanks rolled out of the streets of Bethlehem than time came for Tulkarm to be attacked. Khaled Amayreh, in Hebron, reports Click to view caption Israeli forces spent one night completing their withdrawal from Bethlehem before hundreds of armoured personnel carriers and thousands of troops, backed by helicopter gunships, started their attack on the Tulkarm refugee camp, in the northern section of the West Bank, on Tuesday morning, terrorising inhabitants and killing two Palestinians. The invading forces began house-to-house searches for "wanted Palestinians" before dawn amid intensive and often indiscriminate firing throughout the heavily-populated camp. Some armed individuals in the camp tried to put up some resistance to the forces. But at least two Palestinians were killed and five others wounded. Eyewitnesses testified that Israeli troops encircled the main hospital in Tulkarm, aiming their machine guns at the entrance and preventing ambulances from reaching the camp to evacuate the injured. A number of homes were reportedly destroyed by army bulldozers and as many as 20 youths were rounded up and beaten, before being driven away to the Ufer detention camp, where thousands of Palestinian prisoners are being held in squalid conditions. The Israeli government said the army's actions in Tulkarm were aimed at "apprehending terrorists", and thwarting possible guerrilla attacks. However, the timing of the onslaught, which came shortly after the finalising of the Gaza- Bethlehem First Agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA), suggests that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the military establishment are not genuinely seeking to restore calm in the West Bank. This attitude was expressed by several Israeli cabinet ministers, who argued that the agreement with the PA would in no way "impede army operations in the West Bank". On 20 August, Israeli soldiers guarding the settlement of Morag, near Khan Younis in southern Gaza shot and killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy, identified as Ayman Zurub. He was shopping for the new school year. Earlier, on 19 August, Israeli soldiers manning an Armoured Personnel Carrier shot dead 13- year-old Mohamed Amin Oudeh, at the village of Barqin near Jenin. The killing, say neighbours, was unjustified. The innocent boy posed no threat to the safety of Israeli troops, who had been deployed to enforce curfews. Seeking to justify the killing, an Israeli army spokesman claimed the child was violating the curfew, and throwing stones at the heavily- armoured tanks. His father, Amin Oudeh, called these claims "rubbish". "These are criminal lies... even if he did as they claim, what law on earth or in heaven justifies killing a boy for throwing a stone at a tank?" But the Israeli army is unlikely to pay any attention to the protests of Palestinian parents, who continue to lose their children to Israeli army bullets. A few days earlier, another Palestinian child, six-year-old Ayman Fares, of the Khan Younis refugee camp, was killed in a similar manner. "He was eagerly awaiting his first day at school," said Ayman's mother Sumayya Fares, holding her child's blood-soaked shirt. "My God, those people are not human beings," cried the woman. Thus came a terse statement by the Israeli army following Ayman's death, that "the army is not aware that a child has died." No other follow-up statements were issued by the army, suggesting great contempt for the value of Palestinian lives. This insensitivity took on a further macabre manifestation in Tubas on 14 August, when the Israeli occupation army used a Palestinian teenager, 17-year-old Nidal Daraghmeh, as a human shield, during a mission targeting a disabled and wheelchair-bound occupation activist. When Daraghmeh approached the house where the activist, Nasser Jarrar, was hiding, he was shot dead. The Israeli army then moved to bulldoze the house, burying Jarrar under the rubble. Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation army continued its practice of demolishing Palestinian property. On 17 August, Israeli occupation soldiers opened fire randomly and threw stun grenades in heavily crowded markets. Doctors at Hebron's Al-Ahli Hospital said at least five Palestinians were treated for shrapnel injuries and burns caused by exploding grenades. And on 19 August, Israeli troops demolished a shop, claiming it contained explosive materials. The owner said he had fertilizers in his store. During the demolition, Israeli soldiers fired at gathering crowds and seriously injured a local youth. Meanwhile, virtually all Palestinian resistance groups have criticised the Gaza-Bethlehem First Agreement, agreed to by Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and PA Minister of Interior Abdul-Razzaq Al-Yahya on 18 August. The vaguely-worded agreement stipulates an Israeli redeployment from Bethlehem and the previously PA-administered parts of Gaza, in return for the restoration of PA security control in both areas. Israeli officials labeled the deal a "test case". Further troop movements from other towns would only be carried out if and when the PA demonstrates its willingness and ability to "maintain security", meaning preventing attacks on Israeli occupation forces. Hamas said the agreement amounted to an unconditional surrender to Israel by the PA leadership, while the Islamic Jihad called the plan "an uncertain gamble". Fatah, headed by Chairman Yasser Arafat, also criticised the agreement, saying it failed to guarantee Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian population centres. Fatah also complained that it included no commitment by Israel to end the policies of assassination, incursions into Palestinian towns and villages, and the crippling blockade of Palestinian population centres. Hence, a serious question mark appears as regards the durability of the entire agreement, especially in light of Sharon's obvious lack of enthusiasm for the process.
